“As much as I love Joe Campbell, he does give short shrift to the female hero journey, and it’s very frustrating to me, so that’s part of why I developed my third anime mythology presentation, which is called ‘Mystics, Priestesses and Warrior Women.’ Traditionally, male hero journeys were more prominent because in traditional hunter-gatherer societies, a boy doesn’t become a man until he’s physically initiated… In those same traditional societies, a girl becomes a woman when she starts menstruating. When she starts menstruating, they put her in a hut and have her think about the fact she’s menstruating. Well, that might have worked back in hunter-gatherer times, but that doesn’t work now. That’s not enough to help girls now become self-actualized women. It’s vital we have female hero journeys—not just for girls, for boys, too. Boys and men need to understand the challenges women face as they go through their lives, and if men don’t, they’re doomed to perpetuate ridiculous chauvinism. It’s my personal flag I like to fly, because it’s about damn time that girls have more choices.”

Finally, the newest Geek & Sundry channel Player Piano is making me swoon! They’ve captured the eerie atmosphere and cyberpunk aesthetic of Akira so well. Can we talk about how badass that piano is too?

Today is a special day. Not only is it Glass Lens, Gold Key‘s third birthday and my thirteenth blogging anniversary, but it’s also the premiere date of Sailor Moon Crystal!

I couldn’t ask for a more serendipitous event. My veery first foray into “graphic design” was editing Sailor Moon images in Microsoft Photo Editor and my first “web page” (hosted on Geocities, of course) utilized those bordered backgrounds that had a character graphic on the left side that took up around 25%, while the remainder was a plain texture. Those were the days of 640×480 resolution and seeing those babies scroll was impressive! Honest! Also, those who’ve known me for a while and knew about my blogging at the time may remember my old moniker; I can’t deny that the… celestial aspect of the original series influenced that choice.

However, nostalgia for bad graphics and antiquated web trends doesn’t explain why I woke up at 3AM this morning to watch the new anime. The reason I easily jumped out of bed was because Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon is an enchanting story about heroism, love, and sacrifice, steeped in Classical Mythology, and of course, dressed to the nines. Let’s not forget the fact that it has a full cast of female protagonists, each with their own distinct personalities and ethics.

And that’s just scratching the surface. The Sailor Moon universe (no pun intended) is vast and deserves more than my primer, so let Sailor Moon Crystal be that introduction.